A Silver Lining: Family Engagement in a Post-Pandemic World
Event Summary
On March 8, AEI’s Katharine B. Stevens hosted an event with early education leaders to discuss how their programs have strengthened engagement with families during COVID-19 and how they plan to maintain this crucial partnership going forward.
Emily Roden of ReadyRosie presented key principles ReadyRosie has identified for effectively engaging families in their children’s learning, both in and out of the classroom. She explained that programs must collaborate with families, responding to their unique culture and needs, and emphasized the importance of encouraging parents to engage in joyful, play-based interactions with their children to promote learning. ReadyRosie has found that these principles have been especially valuable in helping programs maintain strong connections with families throughout the pandemic.
The panel of early education leaders then discussed how the pandemic has prompted their programs’ greater efforts to build partnerships with parents over the past year, which both parents and teachers have responded positively to. Teachers have discovered that video technology is an effective way to regularly engage with parents, and the panelists discussed their programs’ plans to continue making greater use of it after the pandemic. Panelists also discussed how increasing parents’ engagement in early education may lead to parents being more involved in their children’s K–12 schooling.
Event Description
Engagement with families has always been an important dimension of early childhood programs. But in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, some programs have sought innovative, more powerful strategies for maintaining close connections with the families they serve.
What new knowledge have these educators gained about families’ needs for support and collaboration? What new strategies have they found to build strong, trusting relationships with families? What works best and why? What are the biggest obstacles to continuing robust engagement going forward? How can those be overcome?
Join AEI’s Katharine B. Stevens for a conversation with four early childhood leaders about their vision for more effective program-family partnerships in a post-pandemic world.
Event Material
Agenda
3:00 PM
Opening remarks:
Katharine B. Stevens, Visiting Scholar, AEI
3:05 PM
Discussion
Panelists:
Kathryn Black, Associate Director, Research and Innovation, CAP Tulsa
Altagracia H. Delgado, Executive Director, Multilingual Services, Aldine Independent School District
Emily Roden, Founder, ReadyRosie
Shonna Werth, Assistant Vice President, Early Childhood Programs, Nebraska Children and Families Foundation
Moderator:
Katharine B. Stevens, Visiting Scholar, AEI
3:50 PM
Q&A
4:00 PM
Adjournment
See Also
Blog ~ June 19, 2019
Op-Ed ~ August 3, 2020
Blog ~ April 14, 2021